Effects of N-methylation and amidination of cyclic β-amino acids on enantioselectivity and retention characteristics using Cinchona alkaloid- and sulfonic acid-based chiral zwitterionic stationary phases.

In the present work the effects of N-methylation and N-amidination of ampholytic cyclic β-amino acids on their retention and enantioseparation characteristics on Cinchona alkaloid- and sulfonic acid-based zwitterionic chiral selectors, namely Chiralpak ZWIX(+)™ and ZWIX(-)™ columns are described. In a polar-ionic mobile phase, a double ion-pairing interaction mechanism takes place between the charged sites of the chiral analytes (the selectands) and the chiral selector moieties. As a support to correlate the chromatographic results with the structural details of the analytes, pKa values and van der Waals volumes of the substituted amino groups were calculated. In order to ensure better understanding of the mechanistic details of the chromatographic system the composition of the bulk solvent, the role of acid base additives, the concentration of the counter-ions, temperature and the structures of the ampholytic analytes have been investigated. Applying N-Fmoc protection, the ampholytic character of the analytes diminished, leading to a marked loss of retention. In the temperature range studied (5-40 °C) thermodynamic parameters, such as the difference in the standard enthalpy change Δ(ΔH°), entropy Δ(ΔS) and Gibbs energy Δ(ΔG°) were calculated from linear van't Hoff plots derived from the ln α vs. 1/T curves. The values of the thermodynamic parameters depended on the structures of the chiral selectors applied and the analytes studied.